In June 2012 The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth set out his vision for tax raising powers in Scotland through his statement to the Scottish Parliament

In this he confirmed that the Scottish Government’s approach to Landfill Tax (LfT) will support the Government’s purpose of achieving sustainable economic growth. Well it’s almost a year since Revenue Scotland took over LfT and what a year it’s been…!

After some consternation from the recycling industry RS undertook a consultation in which SEPA nailed their colours to the mast and aligned themselves with the landfill fraternity.

So, armed with little justification and completely ignoring the European Waste Framework Directive, the Scottish Zero Waste Plan, and an ironically titled publication called “Making Things Last” signed only this year (2016) by our erstwhile Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment Richard Lochhead, RS then went on to declare the inevitable result and went with SEPA’s preference. Somewhat, not surprising that the the Chair of RS Board, Dr Keith Nicholson, is also on the board for SEPA…I kid you not.

So where has this left us. Well, the soil remediation recycling sector has, as you would expect, suffered considerably with inevitable job losses, closure of a treatment center and the industry has become a Non-Circular Economy sector. But rest assured it has made the life of SEPA so much easier through reducing their workload in regulating the waste soil industry. So we can all now sleep soundly knowing that our public sector servants are spending our taxes wisely…!

But don’t worry, SEPA continue to espouse that a more circular economy will benefit:

We get this question from 3 types of clients, the ones who don’t know if we can help them, the ones who think we can remove any contaminant from any material, and the people in the middle who have used remediation contractors in the past and have a good idea of what we can do.

This post attempts to level the playing field a little, hopefully helping more people consider cleaning their soils instead of disposal, and helping some not to get too excited / disappointed when a solution doesn’t fit their scope.

Any contamination scenario can be remediated!

And for the most part an on-site treatment solutions exist, whether it fits your budget or timeframe is a different matter.

In my experience the relationship between soil treatment and the outcome of the soil for re-use is as follows-

There are 2 main types on contaminant, inorganics (e.g. lead, arsenic), and organics (e.g. petrol / diesel), remediation of these is in general very different. It’s difficult to remove metals from soils, conversely it can be quite simple to remove some of the common organic contaminants (e.g. TPH). The flip side of the coin is that metals can be relatively easily bound up in soils by stabilising them, while organic contaminants can be difficult to contain.

Implications for re-use

If the contaminant can be removed from the soil e.g. organics, then in theory the soil can be re-used in whatever capacity you need it for not accounting for geotechnical properties, e.g. sub-soils beneath gardens.

If the contaminant can’t be easily removed e.g. metals, and has been tied up with binding agent to form a material with a consistency between soil and concrete, then it’s unlikely you can re-use as a sub-soil for example, but might become very useful as fill beneath structures.

Feel free to contact us for advice as it’s always easier discussing projects on an individual basis as no site / scenario is the same. You can also find some of the treatment options we offer here.

Everything you wanted to know about soil remediation but were too afraid to ask!

This free guide will help you understand the whats, the whys and the hows of soil remediation in the simplest terms. Download it now for free!

As with many things in life we are always searching for the quick fix. Unfortunately when dealing with contamination one doesn’t really exist. Gone are the days of being able to sweep problems under the rug. Many of today’s remediation jobs are a result of the ‘leave it to someone else’ attitude, along with more lax bygone environmental governance.

Prepare yourself for a possible drawn out process. Even the smaller issues such as a domestic heating oil spill can take months to remediate. Processes you need to take into account can include consultations, site visits, desk studies, site investigations, dealings with appropriate authorities, sampling, developing and implementing remediation plans, monitoring visits, validation, reporting, to name a few.

There is no cut and dry approach to remediation, just because a system works on one site doesn’t mean it can be quickly transferred to another site and be expected to achieve the same results.

Deal with any environmental issues as they occur don’t dismiss them. It is highly likely the contamination will spread, ultimately becoming more costly to remediate in the long run.

If you have encountered an environmental issue, or just looking for some advice feel free to contact us on 0800 0209 307 or e-mail us. Check out the resource section of the Soilution’s website for more helpful advice.

Everything you wanted to know about soil remediation but were too afraid to ask!

This free guide will help you understand the whats, the whys and the hows of soil remediation in the simplest terms. Download it now for free!